Definitions Flashcards
Absolute poverty
Poverty wherein people do not have enough resources to acquire basic life necessities such as shelter, food, clothing, and water.
Absolute threshold
The minimum stimulus energy needed to activate a sensory.
Accommodation
Process by which existing schemata is modified to encompass new information.
Acetylcholine
A neurotransmitter associated with voluntary muscle control.
Achieved status
A status gained as a result of direct, individual action.
Acquisition
In classical conditioning, the process of taking advantage of reflexive responses to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus.
Actor-observed bias
The tendency to make situational attributions about the self, but dispositional attributions about others, regarding similar behaviors.
Adaptation
In perception, a decrease in stimulus perception after a long duration of exposure; in learning, the process by which new information is processed; consists of assimilation and accomidation.
Adaptive value
The extent to which a trait benefits a species by influencing the evolutionary fitness of the species.
Affect
The experience and display of emotion.
Afferent neuron
Sensory neurons which transmit information to the brain from the body in response to sensory input.
Ageism
Prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a person’s age.
Aggregation
A behavior with the intention to cause harm or increase relative social dominance; can be physical or verbal.
Agnosia
The loss of the ability to recognize objects, people, or sounds, though typically just one of the three.
Alcohol myopia
The inability to think about consequences and possible outcomes of one’s actions due to alcohol intoxication.
Alertness
State of consciousness in which one is aware, able to think, and able to respond to the environment; nearly synonymous with arousal.
Algorithm
A formula or procedure for solving a certain type of problem.
Aligning actions
An impression managment strategy in which one makes questionable behavior acceptable through excuses.
Alter-casting
An impression management strategy in which one imposes an identity onto another person.
Altruism
A form of helping behavior in which the person’s intent is to benefit someone else at a cost to him or herself.
Alzheimer’s disease
Degenerative brain disorder that is characterized by dementia and memory loss. Neurofibrillary tangles and B-amyloid plaques are phenomena found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
Amphetamine
A central nervous system stimulant that increases activity of both dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain.
Amygdala
A portion of the limbic system that is important for memory and emotion, especially fear.
Anomie
A state of normlessness; anomic conditions erode social behavior by means of excessive individualism, social inequality, an isolation.
Anterograde amnesia
Form of memory loss in which new long-term memories cannot be established.
Anxiety disorders
Disorders that involve worry, unease, fear, and apprehension about future uncertainties based on real or imagined events that can impair physical and psychological health.
Aphasia
Deficit of language production or comprehension.
Appraisal model
A similar theory to the basic model, accepting that there are biologically predetermined expressions once an emotion is experienced; accepts that there is a cognitive antecedent to emotion in expression.
Archetype
In Jungian psychoanalysis, a thought or image that has an emotional element and is a part of the collective unconsciousness.
Arcuate fasciculus
A bundle of axons that connects Wernicke’s area (language comprehension) with Broca’s area (motor function of speech).
Arousal
A psychological and, physiological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli; nearly synonymous with alertness.
Arousal theory
A theory of motivation that states there is a particular level of arousal required in order to perform actions optimally; summarized by the Yerkes-Dodson law.
Ascribed status
A status that one is given at birth, such as race, ethnicity, or sex.
Assimilation
In psychology, the process by which new information is interpreted in terms of existing schemata;
In sociology, the process by which the behavior and culture of a group or an individual begins to merge with that of another group.
Associative learning
The process by which a connection is made between two stimuli or a stimulus and a response; examples include classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
Attachment
An emotional bond to another person, particularly a parent or caregiver. The four main attachment styles are: secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized.
Attitude
A tendency toward expression of positive or negative feelings or evaluations of a person, place, thing, or situation.
Attribute substitution
A phenomenon observed when individuals must make judgments that are complex but instead substitute a simpler solution or perception.
Attribution theory
A theory that focuses on the tendency for individuals to infer the causes of other people’s behavior.
Auditory cortex
Region of the temporal lobe devoted to sound processing.
Auitory pathway
After entering the brain, sound is processed by several regions, including the MGN, auditory cortex, superior olive, and mfenor colliculus.
Authentic self
Who someone actually is, including both positive and negative attributes.
Autonomic processing
The brain process most closely resembling autopilot, enabling performance of multi:ple activities at the same time.
Autonomic nervous system
The involuntary branch of the peripheral nervous system that controls involuntary functions such as heart rate, bronchial dilation, temperature, and digestion.
Autonomy
The ethical tenet that the physician has the responsibility to respect patients’ choices about their own healthcare.
Availabilty heuristic
A shortcut in decision making that relies on the information that is most readily available, rather than the total body of information on a subject.
Avoidance learning
A form of negative reinforcement in which one avoids the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen.
Babbling
Precursor to language know to spontaneously occur in children.
Back stage
In the dramaturgical approach, the setting where players free from their role requirements and not in front of the audience; back stage behaviors may not be deemed appropriate or acceptable and are then kept invisible from the audience.
Barbiturate
A drug that acts as a central nervous system deppresent, often used for anxiety, insomnia, and as an antiseizure medication.
Basal ganglia
A portion of the forebrain that coordinates muscle movement and routes information from the cortex to the brain and spinal cord.
Base-rate fallacy
Using prototypical or stereotypical factors while ignoring actual numerical information when making a decision.
Basic model
First established by Charles Darwin, a theory that states that emotional expression involves a number of systems, facial expression as well as behavioral and physical responses; claims that emotions are universal and should be similar across cultures.
Behaviorism
B. F. Skinner’s theory that all behaviors are conditioned.
Behaviorism can be applied across many bodies of psychological thought, including theories of
development, of identity, and of personality.
Belief
An acceptance that a statemnet is true or that something exists.
Belief perserverance
The inability to reject a particular belief despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Beneficence
The ethical tenet that the physician has a responsibility to act in the patient’s best interest.
Benzodiazepine
A central nervous system depressant that is often used to reduce anxiety or promote sleep.
Biomedical approach
An approach to psychological disorders that considers only pathophysiological causes and offers pharmaceutical and medical solutions for symptom alleviation.
Biopsychosocial approach
An approach to psychological disorders that considers conditions and treatments to be dependent on biological, psychological, and social causes. Treatment under this approach includes both direct and indirect therapy.
Bipolar disorders
Class of mood disorders characterized by both depression and mania.
Birth rate
The number of births per population in a period of time; usually the number of births per 1000 people per year.
Bisexual
A sexual orientation wherein individuals are attracted to members of both sexes.
Bottom-up processing
Object recognition by parallel processing and feature detection in response to
sensory stimuli.
Brainstem
The most primitive portion of the brain, which includes the midbrain and hindbrain; controls the autonomic nervous system and communication between the spinal cord, cranial nerves, and brain.
Broca’s aphasia
Loss of the motor function of speech resulting intact understanding with an inability to correctly produce spoken language.
Broca’s area
A brain region located in the inferior frontal gyru of the frontal lobe (usually in the left hemisphere); largely responsible for the motor function of speech.
Bureaucracy
A formal organization with the goal of performing complex, tasks as efficiently as possible by dividing work among a number of bureaus.
Bystander effect
The observation that, when in a group, individuals are less likely to respond to a person in need.
Cannon-Bard theory
A theory of emotion that states that a stimulus is first received and is then simultaneously processed physiologically and cognitively, allowing for the conscious emotion to be experienced.
Cataplexy
Loss ofmuscle control with intrusion of REM sleep during waking hours, usually caused by an emotional trigger.
Cataonia
Disorganized motor behavior characterized by various unusual physical movements or stillness.
Central nervous system (CNS)
The portion of the nervous system composed of the brain and spinal cord.
Cerebellum
A portion of the hindbrain that maintains posture and balance and coordinates body movements.
Cerebral cortex
The outermost layer of the cerebrum resonsible for complex perceptual, behavioral, and cognitive processes.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
An aqueous solution in which the brainand spinal cord crest; produced by cells lining the ventricles of the brain.
Cerebrum
A portion of the brain that contains the cerebral cortex, limbic system, and basal ganglia.
Characteristic institution
The social structure or institution about which societies are organized.
Chemoreceptors
Sensory neurons that respond to chemical stimuli.
Choice shift
This term is analogous to group polarization, but describes the behavior change ofthe group as a whole rather than the individual.
Circadian rhythm
The alignment of physiological processes with the
“24-hour day, inducing sleep-wake cycles and some elements of the endocrine system.
Circular reaction
A repetitive action that achieves a desired response; seen during Piaget’s sensorimotor.
Class consiousness
In Marxist theory, the organization of the working class around shared goals and recognition of a need for collective political action.
Classical conditining
A form of associative learning in which a
neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus such that the neutral stimulus alone produces the same response as the unconditioned stimulus; the neutral stimulus thus becomes a conditioned stimulus.
Cocaine
Drug that decreases reuptake of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, with affects similar to amphetamines.
Cognition
The process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experiences, and the senses; how we think and respond to the world.
Cognitive appraisal
The subjective evaluation of a situation that induces stress, consisting of both an initial primary appraisal and a potential secondary appraisal if a threat is revealed during primary appraisal.
Cognitive development
The development of one’s ability to think and solve problems across the life span.
Cognitive dissonacne
The simultaneous presence of two opposing thoughts or opinions.
Cognitive reassociation model
A model of aggression which states that we are more likely to respond aggressively when experiencing negative emotions.
Collective unconscious
In Jungian psychoanalysis, the part of the unconscious mind that is shared among all humans and is a result of our common ancestry.
Colluculi
Two structures in the midbrain involved in sensorimotor reflexes; the superior colliculus receives visual sensory input, and the inferior colliculus receives auditory sensory input.
Compliance
A change of behavior of an individual at the request of another.
Concordance rates
In twin studies, the presence of a trait in both twins.
Conditioned response
In classical conditioning paradigms, the reflexive response caused by a continued stimulus.
Conditioned stimulus
In classical conditioning paradigms, this is an initially neutral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus to train a behavioral response, rendering the previously neutral stimulus a conditioned stimulus.
Conduction aphasia
A speech disorder charcterized by the inability to repeat words with intact spontaneous speech production and comprehension; usually due to injury to the arcuate fasciculus.
Confirmation baisis
A cognitive bias in which one focuses on information that supports a given solution, belief, or hypothesis and ignores evidence against it.
Conflcit theory
A theoretical framework that emphasizes the role of power differentials in producing social order.
Conformity
The changing of beliefs or behaviors in order to fit into a group or society.
Consciousness
Awareness of oneself; can be used to describe varying levels of awareness that occur with wakefulness, sleep, dreaming. and drug-induced states.
Conservation
Concept seen in quantitative analysis performed by a child; develops when a child is able to identify the difference between quantity by number and actual amount, especially when faced with identical quantities seperated into varying pieces.
Consistancy
In sensory perception, perceiving certain characteristics of object to remain the same despite differences in the environment.
Context effect
A retrieval cue by which memory is aided when a person is in the location where encoding took place.
Contralateral
On the opposite side of the body, relative to something else (usually a side of the brain).
Controlled (conscious) processing
Processing method used when a task requires complete attention.
Correspondent inference theory
A theory that states that people pay closer attention to intentional behavior than accidental behavior when making attributions, especially if the behavior is unexpected.
Cortical homunculus
A “map” that relates regions of the brain to the anatomical regions of the body.
Critical period
A time during aevelopment during which exposure to language is essential for eventual development of the effective use of language; occurs between two years of age and puberty.
Crystallized intelligence
Cognitive capacity to understand relationships or solve problems using information acquired during schooling and other experiences.
Cues
In understanding the behavior of others, indicators of the underlying cause of a behavior. This includes consistency cues, consensus cues, and difference cues.
Deindividuation
The idea that people will lose a sense of self-awareness and can act dramatically differently based on the influence of a group.
Delirium
Rapid fluctuation in cognitive function that is reversible has a nonpsychological cause.
Delusions
Fixed, false beliefs that are discordant with reality and not shared by one’s culture, and are maintained in spite of strong evidence to the contrary.
Dementia
Intellectual decline starting with impaired memory and progressing to impaired judgment andrconfusion.
Demographic shift
A change in the makeup of a population over time.
Demographic transition
The transition from high birth and mortality rates to lower birth and mortality rates, seen as a country develops from a preindustrial to an industrialized economic system.
Demographics
The statistical arm ofs ociology, which attempts to characterize and explain populations by quantitative analysis.
Depressant
Any substance that reduces nervous system fonction.
Depressive disorder
Sadness meeting certain conditions of severity and durat ion such th at a diagnosis of a mental health issue is warranted. Depressive disorders include, among others: major depression, dysthymic disorder, and seasonal affective disorder.
Culture capital
The benefits one receives from knowledge, abilities, and skills.
Cultural diffusion
The spread of norms, cultures, and beliefs throughout a culture.
Cultural relativism
The theory that social groups and cultures must be studied on their own terms to be understood.
Cultural sensitivity
Recognizing and respecting the differences between cultures.
Cultural syndrome
A shared set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, values, and behaviors organized around a central theme and found among people who speak the same language and share a geographic region.
Cultural transimissions
The means by which a society socializes its members.
Culture
The beliefs, behaviors, actions, and characteristics of a group or society of people.
Culture shock
Cultural differences tha t are seen as quite dramatic when travelling outside of one’s own society,
Dedctive reasoning
A form of cognition that starts with general information and narrows down that information to create a conclusion.
Defense mechanism
In Freudian psychoanalysis, a technique used by the ego that denies, falsifies, or distorts reality in order to resolve anxiety caused by undesirable urges of the id and superego.
Reliance on central traits
The tendency to organize the perception of others based on traits and personal characteristics of the target that matter to the perceiver.
REM rebound
Phenomenon in which one spends an increased time in REM sleep following a period of sleep deprivation.
Representativeness heuristic
A shortcut in decision making that relies on categorizing items on the basis of whether they fit the prototypical, stereotypical, or representative image ofthe category.
Repression
A defense mechanism by which the ego forces undesired thoughts and urges to the unconscious mind.
Response bias
The tendency of subjects to respond systematically to a stimulus in a particular way due to nonsensory factors.
Reticular formation
A structure in the brainstem that is responsible for alertness.
Retrieval
The process of emonstrating that information has been retained in memory; includes recall, recognition,and relearning
Retrograde amnesia
A form of memory loss that impacts long-term memories of events prior to the time of injury.
Rhombencephalon
The embryonic portion of the brain that becomes the hindbrain.
Ritual
A formalized ceremony that usually involves specific material objects, symbolism, and additional mandates on acceptable behavior.
Role
A set of beliefs, values, attitudes, and norms that define expectations for behavior associated with a given status.
Role conflict
A difficulty in satisfying role requirements or expectations among various roles.
Role partner
The person with whom one interacts while playing a particular role; each role partner provides a different set of behavioral expectations.
Role performance
Carrying out the behaviors associated with a given role.
Role set
A group of rok partners relative to a given status.
Role strain
Difficulty in satisfying in multiple requirements of the same role.
Role-taking
Roleplaying, by which children come to understand the perspectives of others and the ways in which these perspectives may differ from their own.
Sanction
A societally enforced punishment or reward for behvaior. Formal sanctions are those enforced by social institutions (laws) and informal sanctions are enforced by social behaviors (ostracitization, etc).
Schacher-Singer theory
A theory of emotion that states that both physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal must occur before an emotion is consciously experienced.
Schema
An organized pattern of thought and behavior; one of the central concepts of Piaget’s stages of cognitve development.
Schizophrenia
A psychotic disorder characterized by gross distortions of reality and disturbances in the content and form of thought, perception, and behavior.
Second sickness
The concept proposed by Howard Waitzkin that poor health outcomes are exacerbated by social injustice.
Secondary group
Groups wherein interactions are based on weaker, impersonal bonds.
Secondary stress apprasial
The interpretation of primary stress appraisal to determine emotional response to a given threat.
Selective attention
The ability to focus on a single stimulus even while other stimuli are occurring simultaneously.
Self-concept
The sum of the thoughts and feelings about oneself; includes self-schemata and appraisal of one’s past and future self.
Self-determination theory
Need-based motivational theory that emphasizes the importance of autonomy, competence and relatedness.
Self-disclosure
An aspect of interpersonal attraction or impression management in which one shares his or her fears, thoughts, and goals with another person in the hopes of being met with empathy and nonjudgment.
Piaget’s theory
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development divided the life span into sensonmotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.
Pineal gland
A brain structure located near the thalamus that secretes melatonin.
Pituitary gland
The “master gland” of the endocrine system that triggers hormone release in other endocrine glands.
Place theory
Theory of sound conduction in the ear that holds that vibration on particular areas of the basilar membrane determines perception of pitch, also referred to as tonotopical organization.
Polyandry
A mating system in which a female has exclusive relationships with several males.
Polygamy
A mating system in which one member of a sex has multiple exclusive opposite-sex relationships.
Polygyny
A mating system in which a male has exclusive relationships with several females.
Pons
A portion of the brainstem that relays information between the cortex and medulla, regulates sleep, and carries some motor and sensory information frorn the face and neck.
Postive symptoms
Behaviors, thoughts, or feelings added to normal behavior.
Poverty
A socioeconomic condition of low resource availability; in the United States, the poverty line is determined by the government’s calculation of the minimum income requirements for families to acuire the minimum necessities of life.
Power
The capacity to influence people through the real or threatened use of rewards and punishments; often based on unequal distribution of valued resources.
Pragmatics
The ways in which use of language can be altered, depending on social context.
Prejudice
An irrational positive or negative attitude toward a person, group, or thing, formed prior to actual experience.
Prestige
In sociology, the amount of positive regard society has for a given person or idea.
Prevalence
The number of cases of a disease per population in a given period of time; usually, cases per 1000 people per year.
Primacy effect
The phenomenon of first impressions of a person being more important than subsequent impressions.
Primary group
A group wherein the interactions are direct, with close bonds, providing relationships to members that are very warm, personal, and intimate.
Primary stress appraisal
An initial evaluation of the environment to determine if there is an associated threat.
Priming
A retrevial cue by which recall is aided by a word or phrase that is semantically related to the desired memory.
Primitive reflexes
Reflexes present in infants that disappear with age.
Prodromal phase
A phase of poor adjustment that precedes the full onset of schizophrenia.
Projection
A defense mechanism by which individuals attribute their undesired feelings to others.
Projection area
A portion of the cerebral cortex that analyzes sensory input.
Promiscuity
A mating system in which a member of one sex mates with any member of the opposite sex.
Proprioception
The ability to tell where one’s body is in space.
Prosencephalon
The embryonic portion of the brain that becomes the forebrain.
Prosody
The rhythm, cadence, and reflection of speech.
Prospective memory
Remembering to perform a task at some point in a future.
Proximal stimulus
A stimulus that directly interacts with and affects sensory receptors.
Proximity
An aspect of interpersonal attraction based on being physically close to someone.
Obedience
The changing of behavior of an individual based on a command from someone seen as an authority figure.
Object permanence
Knowledge that an object does not cease to exist even when the object cannot be seen; a milestone in cognitive development.
Obervational learning
A form of learning in which behavior is modified as a result of watching others.
Obesessive-compulsive disorders
This category, which also includes related disorders, describes the set of disorders where people feel the need to check things repeatedly or have certain thoughts repeatedly, without the ability to control these thoughts or activities.
Occipital lobe
A portion of the cerebral cortex that controls visual processing.
Opperant conditioning
A form of associative learning in which the frequency of a behavior is modified using reinforcement or punishment.
Opiates
A drug family consisting of naturally occurring, highly addictive, pain-r~ducing drugs used in both medical and recreational settings; opioids are synthetic versions of these drugs.
Opponent-processing theory
A theory that states that the body will adapt to counteract repeated exposure to stimuli, such as seeing afterimages or ramping up the sympathetic nervous system in response to a depressant.
Depressive episode
A period of at least two weeks in which there is a prominent and persistent depressed mood or lack of interest and at least four other depressive symptoms.
Deviance
The violation of norms, rules, or expectations within a society.
Diagnostic and Statictical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
The guide by which most psychological disorders are characterized, described, and diagnosed; currently in its fifth edition (DSM-5, published May 2013).
Diencephalon
A portion of the prosencephalon that becomes the thalamus, hypothalamus, posterior pituitary gland, and pineal gland.
Differential association theory
Theory that deviance can be learned through interactions with others who engage in deviant behavior, provided those interactions outnumber interactions with those who conform to social norms in number and/or importance.
Disconfirmation principle
The idea that states that if evidence obtained during testing does not confirm a hypothesis, then the hypothesis is discarded or revised.
Discrimination
In classical conditioning, the process by which two similar but distinct conditioned stimuli produce different responses; in sociology, when individuals of a particular group are treated differently than others based on their group.
Discriminative stimulus
In behavioral conditioning, a stimulus whose presence indicates the opportunity for reward.
Dishabituation
A sudden increase in response to a stimulus, usually due to a change in the stimulus or addition of another stimulus; sometimes called resensitization.
Displacement
A defense mechanism by which undesired urges are transferred from one target to another, more acceptable one.
Display rules
Cultural expectations of how emotions can be expressed.
Dispositional (internal) attributions
Attributions that relate to the decisions or personality of the person whose behavior is being considered.
Dissociative disorders
Disorders that involve a perceived separation from identity or the environment.
Distal stimulus
Part of the outside world that serves as a source for stimuli that reach the sensory
neurons.
Distant networks
Networks that are looser and composed of weaker ties.
Distress
The stress response to unpleasant stressors.
Divided attention
The ability to attend to multiple stimuli simultaneously and to perform multiple tasks at the same time.
Dizygotic twins
Fraternal twins who share approximately 50% of their genes, as with most siblings.
Dominant hemisphere
The side ofthe brain that provides analytic, language, logic, and math skills; in most individuals, the left hemisphere.
Dopimine
A neurotransmitter associated with smooth movements steady posture, the reward path way, and psychosis.
Dramaturgical approach
An impression management theory that represents the world as a stage and individuals as actors performing to an audience.
Dreaming
Phenomenon which mostly occurs during REM sleep. Theories proposed to explain this phenomenon include activation- synthesis theory, problem-solving dream theory, and cognitive process dream theory.
Drive reduction theory
A theory that explains motivation as being based on the goal of eliminating uncomfortable internal states.
Drives
Deficiencies that activate particular behaviors focused on a goal, which can be further subdivided into either primary (body-sustaining) or secondary (not biologically necessary) drives.
Dual-coding theory
A cognitive theory that states that both visual and verbal associations are used to encode and retrieve information.
Duplicity theory of vision
A theory which holds that the retma contains two types of specialized photoreceptors: rods specialized for light and dark perception and cones specialized for color perception.
Dyssomonia
A sleep disorder in which one has difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or avoiding sleep.
Ecstasy
Common name for MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-N_methylamphetamine); a central nervous system stimulant with effects similar to both amphetamines and hallucinogens.
Efferent neurons
Motor neurons that transmit information from the central nervous system to the periphery.
Ego
In Freudian Psychoanalysis, the part of the unconscious mind that mediates the urges of the id and superego; operates under the reality principle.
Egocentrism
Self-centered view of the world in which one is not necessarily able to understand the experience of another person; seen in Piaget’s preoperational stage.
Elaboration likelihood model
A theory in which attitudes are formed and changed through different routes of information processing based on the degree of deep thought given to persuasive information. There are two possible processing routes within this model; central route processing (deep thinking or elaborative) and peripheral route processing (non- elaborative).
Elaborative rehearsal
The association of information in short-term memory to information already stored in long-term memory; aids in long-term storage.
Electroencephalograpghy (EEG)
A test used to study the electrical patterns
of the brain under varying conditions; consists of multiple electrodes placed on the scalp. Characteristic EEG patterns include beta, alpha, theta, and delta waves, as well as patterns associated with REM sleep.
Emotion
A feeling and state of mind derived from circumstances, mood, or relationships.
Emotional support
Listening to, affirming, and empathizing with someone’s feelings as part of social support.
Empathy
The ability to vicariously experience the emotions of another.
Empathy-altruism hypothesis
Theory that one individual helps another when they feel empathy for the oher person.
Encoding
The process of receiving information and preparing it for storage; can be automatic or effortful.
Endorphins
Natural painkillers produced by the brain.
Epinephrine
A neurotransmitter associated with the fight-or-flight response.
Errors of growth
Misuse of grammar characterized by universal application of a rule, regardless of exceptions; seen in children during language development.
